Temporary Workers

Giant Food and Safeway, the Baltimore region's two largest supermarket chains, are recruiting temporary workers as contract negotiations continue with the union that represents 23,000 employees. The current agreement expires March 31. The companies said hiring additional staffing was standard during contract talks. Safeway said in a newspaper advertisement that it was seeking applications for temporary workers "due to a possible labor dispute. " "In the event of a work stoppage, we'll be able to keep our stores up and running and serve our customers," Giant spokesman Jamie Miller said Tuesday, noting that both grocers sought temporary workers during the last contract talks, in 2008.

Union officials warned Thursday that as many as 200 maintenance workers and building monitors at Baltimore's public housing properties could lose their jobs under a plan intended to infuse the buildings with private money. Employees such as maintenance mechanic Lucky Crosby Sr., who has worked for the Housing Authority of Baltimore City for a decade, say they took the jobs with the understanding that the pay was relatively low, but the work was secure. "By working for the Housing Authority, we joined the credit union so we could buy homes that we have to finance," said Crosby, 46, of Sandtown-Winchester.

The Home Depot is hiring 750 workers to fill seasonal spring jobs at Baltimore-area stores. The home improvement retailer is preparing for its busy spring selling season by recruiting 80,000 workers chain-wide, the company said Wednesday. Home Depot, with $70.4 billion in sales and more than 2,200 stores in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, said about half of last year's seasonal hires became permanent employees. The chain also has a placement program designed for returning military personnel and veterans.

Kohl's Department Stores said Thursday that it will hire about 1,400 workers at its Edgewood distribution center as it temporarily staffs up for holiday shopping. The company said it began hiring at distribution centers in August and will continue for a few months in preparation for holiday shoppers and other seasonal purchases. Its Harford County e-commerce fulfillment center, at 1701 Trimble Rd., is hiring temporary workers for full- and part-time jobs. Kohl's expects that seasonal hiring in its stores will begin in October.

About 90 workers at the General Motors Corp. assembly plant in Southeast Baltimore will lose their jobs by the end of the year as the company adjusts to declining production, company and union officials said yesterday.Jeffrey S. Kuhlman, a spokesman for the Baltimore plant, said the layoff will apply only to temporary workers. He said they are workers who were hired last year as the plant beefed up its work force to meet strong consumer demand for the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari vans made here.

Union leaders representing workers in contract negotiations with Giant Food and Safeway said yesterday that they are bracing members for a strike as talks with the area's two largest grocers stall. Safeway and Giant Food, meanwhile, have begun advertising for temporary workers as contracts covering 23,000 workers near expiration March 31. The companies said hiring additional staffing is standard during contract negotiations. Safeway said in a newspaper advertisement that the hiring of temporary employees was in "preparation for a possible labor dispute."

Census Bureau officials opened a second office in Baltimore on Tuesday and expect to hire about 1,200 temporary employees to canvass the city and collect demographic data. The office, at 205 S. President St., will serve as headquarters for operations on the eastern side of the city. Fernando E. Armstrong, regional director for the Census Bureau, said the federal government has started accepting applications for the jobs and will hire people at the end of March for stints ranging from five weeks to three months, depending on the nature of the work.

At first glance, Pimlico Race Course 's infield didn't look quite as trash-filled as Yolanda Wade is used to seeing it the Sunday morning after the Preakness, despite record crowds this year. It was an illusion. With more tents than in previous years, there was more room for the detritus of 121,300 fans to hide, turning the annual clean-up into a kind of warped treasure hunt. The tents "camouflaged the trash," said Wade, a fill-in supervisor for Pritchard Sports & Entertainment who works at Pimlico and the Laurel Park racetrack year-round.

The Baltimore school system has laid off between 50 and 60 temporary workers and plans to lay off permanent administrative staff as part of an effort to eliminate a projected $4.5 million deficit. Mark Smolarz, the school system's chief operating officer, said eliminating the temporary workers -- who were let go this month -- will save an estimated $1.7 million. Eliminating additional administrative staff, mainly from the system's North Avenue headquarters, is expected to save another $2 million, Smolarz said.

Blockbuster Inc. has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the retailer of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment, the agency's Baltimore office said Wednesday. The EEOC had charged the Dallas-based entertainment retailer with subjecting the temporary workers to harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and discriminating against Hispanic temporary workers. The events occurred in 2004 and 2005 in a Gaithersburg distribution center, the lawsuit said.

The Home Depot is hiring 750 workers to fill seasonal spring jobs at Baltimore-area stores. The home improvement retailer is preparing for its busy spring selling season by recruiting 80,000 workers chain-wide, the company said Wednesday. Home Depot, with $70.4 billion in sales and more than 2,200 stores in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, said about half of last year's seasonal hires became permanent employees. The chain also has a placement program designed for returning military personnel and veterans.

The Baltimore school system is evaluating whether to retain hundreds of temporary employees and plans to let many of them go by the end of the week - before schools close for the holiday break. Tisha Edwards, chief of staff for the school system, said the effort to cut down on temporary employees was spurred several months ago by the city's teachers union, which expressed concerns about temporary employees filling union jobs. At the same time, school officials vowed to do a better job of checking the credentials of temporary professionals after a worker hired on a temporary basis at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School was charged last month with sex abuse.

A traveling hospital worker accused of stealing pain-killing drugs, contaminating syringes and infecting dozens of patients with hepatitis C pleaded not guilty to the charges in New Hampshire federal court Monday. David Kwiatkowski, 33, who was trained in Michigan as a radiologic technologist before beginning his work as a hired temporary worker in hospitals across the country — including four in Maryland — has been described as a "serial infector" by prosecutors and an addict by investigators.

Getting fired propelled Roxie Herbekian into three decades of work as a labor organizer. The president of Local 7 of Unite Here, an international union that represents workers in the hospitality industry, was working as a non-union waitress and room service phone operator at the Watergate complex in Washington in 1981 when she joined a Unite Here effort to represent workers. "I got fired for organizing," Herbekian said. She began working for the union, organizing campaigns in Washington, Northern Virginia and Baltimore.

At first glance, Pimlico Race Course 's infield didn't look quite as trash-filled as Yolanda Wade is used to seeing it the Sunday morning after the Preakness, despite record crowds this year. It was an illusion. With more tents than in previous years, there was more room for the detritus of 121,300 fans to hide, turning the annual clean-up into a kind of warped treasure hunt. The tents "camouflaged the trash," said Wade, a fill-in supervisor for Pritchard Sports & Entertainment who works at Pimlico and the Laurel Park racetrack year-round.

Contract negotiations between management and the union representing workers at Giant Food and Safeway are expected to continue Tuesday, said a union spokeswoman, who added that no progress had been reported so far. The contract between the grocery chains and the union, which represents 23,000 employees in the Baltimore-Washington region, expires March 31. On Monday, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 in Landover said five...

General Motors Corp.'s consideration of a plan to boost production at its Southeast Baltimore plant has been sidetracked by a dispute over the use of temporary workers, according to the head of the local union."

Union chief opposes SSA budget proposalWASHINGTON -- Robert M. Tobias, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union, has accused the Reagan and Bush administrations of "clandestinely dismantling SSA through the systematic sabotage of its service delivery system."Mr. Tobias, who spoke at a Monday hearing of the House subcommittee that appropriates money for the Social Security Administration, called for increases in SSA's 1993 budget of $560 million and 8,700 FTEs (full-time equivalents)

Giant Food and Safeway, the Baltimore region's two largest supermarket chains, are recruiting temporary workers as contract negotiations continue with the union that represents 23,000 employees. The current agreement expires March 31. The companies said hiring additional staffing was standard during contract talks. Safeway said in a newspaper advertisement that it was seeking applications for temporary workers "due to a possible labor dispute. " "In the event of a work stoppage, we'll be able to keep our stores up and running and serve our customers," Giant spokesman Jamie Miller said Tuesday, noting that both grocers sought temporary workers during the last contract talks, in 2008.

Blockbuster Inc. has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a lawsuit in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the retailer of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment, the agency's Baltimore office said Wednesday. The EEOC had charged the Dallas-based entertainment retailer with subjecting the temporary workers to harassment, retaliating against them for resisting sexual advances and discriminating against Hispanic temporary workers. The events occurred in 2004 and 2005 in a Gaithersburg distribution center, the lawsuit said.